The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia

In the process of reengineering the public sphere, the Kremlin changed the calendar. One of the four big public holidays of the year —along with New Year's Eve, May Day, and Victory Day—had been November 7, the anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution. Yeltsin had renamed it Reconciliation and Agreement Day. Now Putin, apparently concerned that revolutionary organizations might be tempted to use the day to stage protests, abolished the holiday. Russians would still get a day off in November, but it would now be on the fourth of the month and it would mark an event that had not been part of Russia's historical imagination: the expulsion of Polish occupiers from Moscow in 1612. As the intellectual and the historian among the leaders of the "preventive counter-revolution," Dugin took ownership of the new holiday. On November 4, 2005, the Eurasian Youth Union led a march through central Moscow. They called it the Russian March. Eurasian Youth activists walked in the vanguard, carrying a banner emblazoned with the words "Russia Against the Occupiers!" The Eurasianists were joined by several other groups, whose slogans were explicitly racist: "We need a Russian Russia!" one speech concluded. "Glory to Russia!" Another declaimed: "How long are we going to put up with this vermin, with all these 'Latvias,' 'Polands,' and 'Georgias'? We declare this the day of the people's anger. Russians, rise up!"¹⁴

"By giving a green light to the [Eurasian Youth Union's] anti- Western xenophobia, the authorities had created opportunities for adherents of more extreme variants of ultranationalism," writes Horvath. "As the moderate opposition was driven to the margins, ultranationalists gained admission to Russia's public sphere."¹⁵

"i have a brilliant idea!" Boris shouted into the phone when he called Zhanna in Portugal in the summer of 2005. "You should run for office." His logic was simple: he had met Oborona activists, and the events of that year so far had convinced him that young—very young —people were the future of politics. His daughter had a leg up on everyone else because she carried his famous last name, to which he now referred as a brand.

Zhanna was not interested. She was not interested in much, frankly: she still, or once again, lacked ambition. She had just graduated from the Institute of International Relations, where she had done well enough, despite minimal engagement either with her studies or with fellow students. For much of her time in college her social life had revolved around a group of slightly older gay men—the people who had the best time at the best new clubs in town. Then, during the winter of her last year of studying, she got a call from a friend of her mother's: "Come on over, I'll introduce you to a very cute banker." The banker's name was Dmitry, he was indeed very cute, but he was also fifteen years older than Zhanna and on his second marriage. By spring, though, he was separated and he and Zhanna were living together. Dmitry was worldly, attentive, a good cook, and a great entertainer. Zhanna's friends loved him, and so did her parents—Dmitry had a way of making people feel important. The only wrinkle in their relationship was Dmitry's love of all things glamorous—he wished to see Zhanna in expensive dresses and imposing high heels at all times. But he had a trait that far outweighed her discomfort in high heels: he liked all Zhanna's ideas. This was why they were in Portugal now. Zhanna had taken Portuguese as her second foreign language at the Institute, and she wanted to spend the summer after graduation practicing it among native speakers. It was the best place and the best summer, and Boris was intruding with his insane suggestion.

"Margaret Thatcher ran for office for the first time at age twenty- two," was Boris's ultimate argument, and, unreasonably, it succeeded in convincing Zhanna. She returned to Moscow and declared her candidacy for the city legislature. She and Boris told everyone that the idea was hers and that her father had misgivings about seeing her seek office. Zhanna told reporters that she was "more moderate" than Boris, which journalists generally took to mean that she was not a die-hard opponent of Putin.¹⁶ It seemed that Boris believed the legend himself: he told Zhanna that she had to raise her own money. He did lend her about $20,000 to cover the "electoral collateral"— money that went into escrow pending election results. If she got less than 5 percent of the vote, the state would keep it.

Zhanna talked a college classmate into being her campaign manager. A friend of her mother's, Olga, joined too. Olga was very good at talking to people. Dmitry, supportive as ever, paid for a photo